Game review: Chaos On Deponia

Chaos On Deponia.

Published:14:04Sunday 25 November 2012

Introducing us to a garbage-filled world full of character and charm that isn’t often seen in a video game, Daedalic Entertainment’s fabulous point-and-click adventure Deponia showed players why the point-and-click genre was so popular with simple controls and a unique feel to its characters and the world around them (See my review on Deponia).

This game began the intended trilogy in style which has followed on to its sequel, Chaos on Deponia, which again sees players control Rufus as he once again finds himself in a bigger pickle than before. Does Chaos on Deponia carry on the same charm and wit that made the first game so popular?

Let’s see ...players control Rufus yet again as, after the repeated tutorial from the first game, he discovers his garbage-filled home world of Deponia is at risk of demolishment thanks to the Elysian council.

This is not his only problem, however, as his love Goal’s brain implant, which holds codes that will ensure safe passage to her home of Elysium, seems to be damaged splitting Goals personality into three.

The story is better this time around, holding a lot of branching possibilities which will make players wonder what’s going to happen next and the results are often seriously amusing bordering into hilarious, making this story one of the funniest yet weirdest I’ve ever played out.

The funny one-liners and hilarious context remain from the first game, yet made even more prominent this time around thanks to the new characters Rufus interacts with throughout the game.

Rufus is still as rude and obnoxious as ever and Goal is as charming as she was in Deponia, however with her split personalities, she is a far deeper character than she was before.

The graphics are crisper than the first game with the new locations and characters leaking beautiful colours that are seriously pleasing on the eye.

Characters’ movements are more detailed this time around, however with the skipping frames in the movements now gone, giving characters more personality.

Rounded edges have sharpened and the cartoony style visuals look a lot more HD without being HD.

Characters’ facial expressions are something else that I noticed have improved which accompany the funny dialogue perfectly.

Imagine SpongeBob Square pants telling funny jokes and you will know what I mean.

The gameplay is exactly the same from the first game which is by no means a bad thing as the controls were a delight.

Players once again control a cursor on screen via mouse, the cursor displays cogs when a usable item is highlighted, a magnifying glass if an examinable object is highlighted and lips if a character is highlighted.

It’s a simple scheme that has worked for years which complements the game’s challenging puzzles which mainly require the player to hunt down objects to use on other objects.

The challenge, however, is due to the game’s unusual contents, hunting down objects such as Razorfish, Platypus Trappers and gold dragon of invisibility. I mean seriously?!

But that’s what makes Chaos on Deponia so fun to play; its unorthodox gameplay style and you don’t even need a top notch computer to play it on.

Chaos on Deponia’s inventory system is identical to the first outing and it is once again up to the player as to how it works, whether to use a mouse wheel or by moving the cursor to the top of the screen.

Both methods work great, however I found the mouse wheel method works best as it is far more convenient.

Summary

Daedalic Entertainment’s intended trilogy follows on with this fabulously charming gem taking all what was popular in the first game and only slightly improving them. Chock full of personality thanks to its hilarious dialogue, funny story twists, excellent animation and challenging puzzles makes Chaos on Deponia is a point-and-click force to be reckoned with. Rufus is an interesting character and his ill-mannered personality definitely steals the show making him an ideal frontman for the series.